The need for more secure methods of shipping goods in the United States became apparent after the large scale national security breach on Sep. 11, 2001. At that time, United States Customs and others responsible for monitoring the shipment of goods into the United States relied primarily on printed documentation and visual inspection of the cargo itself. Systems for tracking cargo as it traveled were essentially non-existent. Nor was there any way of providing the capability of inspecting the contents of a shipping container without opening the container up and taking the risk that the cargo could be dangerous. Developments that have occurred after Sep. 11, 2001, include changing from paper to electronic booking and manifests, using gamma- and
x-ray scanners to examine the contents of containers without opening them, and creating portals on which authorized users can track shipping information. Even with these new developments, inspectors are still unable to tell what is in a container without making a visual inspection of the container. Furthermore, inspectors are still unable to track the contents of shipments during transit without intrusive inspection.
It is generally known that identification machines and information storage and processing machines in electronic form for storing, processing, and transmitting data with respect to specific accounts are used in many contexts with regard to the regulation of commerce and business. Such machines include, for example, portable microprocessor devices including computers, “smartcards” with microchips, electronically scanned labels or bar codes, light and radio sensors, and other known technologies. Using these types of devices, various data can be input manually or automatically through various input and scanning mechanisms.
Typically, such devices that store, process, and transmit data are linked, in any one of a variety of technologically known ways, to a computer-based network that communicates with input and output devices to store and process data. For example, such networks include the Internet or the World Wide Web, or private networks. Transmission of data is achieved via modem, cable, radio frequency (RF) transmission, or the like.
While there are many known applications for obtaining, storing, processing, and communicating data using the known hardware and software technologies available, no such systems or configurations exist for obtaining, managing, processing, and communicating sufficient data in a manner that effectively monitors and tracks goods traveling into and out of one or more countries. Furthermore, there lacks known means to effectively link such information in real time among numerous countries and authorities in a cooperative and useful manner.
Currently, U.S. Customs thoroughly screens and examines all of the shipments that are deemed to potentially pose a risk to the security of the United States. The goal of U.S. Customs is to screen these shipments before they depart for the United States whenever possible. To do so, Customs receives electronic bill of lading/manifest data for approximately 98 percent of the sea containers before they arrive at U.S. seaports. Customs uses this data to first identify the lowest risk cargo being shipped by long-established and trusted importers. In the year 2000, nearly half a million individuals and companies imported products into the United States. But 1,000 companies (the top two tenths of one percent) accounted for 62 percent of the value of all imports. Some shipments for these companies are still randomly inspected, but the vast majority is released without physical inspection.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Modernization Effort, which encompasses the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and the International Trade Data System (ITDS) programs which focus on cargo import and export operations, began in 2001. The ACE and ITDS formed the basis for a system that provided a “single screen” for the international business community to interact with CBP and all government agencies on import/export requirements. The CBP technology foundation, also referred to as the Enterprise Architecture, is established to support all field activities and align information technology with the strategic objectives of CBP and all agencies.
The CBP Modernization Program redesigns the automated systems that support CBP operations for all goods and people crossing U.S. borders. CBP recognizes that the business community requires the ability to transmit and receive electronic information in coordination with all the necessary government agencies in order to process imports, exports, and passenger movement, and comply with all the laws and regulations governing goods and people crossing our borders. Accordingly, CBP supports both government agencies with border-related missions as well as any business communities whose focus it is to move goods and people across U.S. borders.
The ACE lays the technology foundation for the CBP and delivers enhanced support of the cargo processing and enforcement operations from beginning to end. All related functions for CBP, the trade community, and government agencies are supported from a single common user interface, a single screen for officers to perform their work. Additionally, CBP continues to support the traditional system-to-system interfaces. Both imports and exports are linked seamlessly to enforcement, revenue management, and mission support systems to enable integrated field operations and nationwide collaborative teaming among officers within CBP, across agency lines, and between government and the business community.
The ACE provides for a Secure Data Portal that is similar to commonly used Internet sites like AOL and Yahoo that offer a broad array of services and features such as search engines and on-line tools. The ACE Secure Data Portal provides a universal dashboard for data, tools, and information—a worktool that can be customized by each particular user. Although the Portal is a powerful tool to access information and conduct business, ACE also continues to provide the traditional system-to-system interfaces with the business community.
The Portal allows users “point and click” access to applications and information sources and permits collaboration within CBP and among CBP, the trade, and government agencies. Users log in to a customized screen that functions as a starting point for ACE and the applications and systems that the user regularly uses (current and new systems).
Strict security is in place to ensure that users are only authorized to access data deemed appropriate for their role. The user-friendly design of the ACE Secure Data Portal simplifies access, analysis, and movement of all cargo and passenger information. Currently, a CBP officer retrieves and analyzes information in different systems, including Automated Commercial System (ACS), Automated Export System (AES), Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS), and targeting. Furthermore, the Portal allows access to all of these integrated systems with a single sign on.
The information that CBP officers are able to view on their screens depends on the role and work location specific to each user. Similarly, the business community and government agency officials only have access to the information they are authorized to view. Security and access controls are a prerequisite. This provides the user with automatic access to specific information needed to perform his/her duties without having to search for it on different systems.
Through a single, user-friendly computer screen, users with the requisite authorization have access to information pertaining to transaction data for importers, exporters, carriers, shippers, etc.; enforcement and targeting systems, including TECS; analytical and data mining tools to search the ACE data warehouse; Office of Regulations & Rulings (OR&R) rulings and information; multi-agency information databases; and information sources on the CBP network and the Internet. CBP officers are able to collaborate with each other on-line nationwide while reviewing the same or related information on their screens. Officers from different regulatory or law enforcement agencies can thus exchange data easily. CBP and its counterparts in the business community operate through the ACE Secure Data Portal to resolve issues or discrepancies without the exchange of phone calls or paper.
Using ACE, CBP Inspectors and other relevant government officers are able to make decisions for processing imports. This does not mean pre-clearance, but it does translate into the receiving of advance information on shipments, pre-arrival risk assessment, intelligence analysis, and staged enforcement.
Instead of having several different unrelated “stove-piped” cargo release systems, inspectors have one consolidated release system in the primary inspection booth that provides instant access to all necessary data. The ACE powers an expedited release process for carriers and shippers that have pre-filed, been pre-approved, and been subject to enforcement prescreening and targeting. An integrated risk management and targeting system (integrated across CBP and ITDS agencies) implements all types of enforcement and selectivity screening for commercial shipments. The CBP laboratories are also linked so that lab personnel may report and retrieve lab findings, allowing other personnel to review them immediately. These functions provide comprehensive information support for managing the consistency and effectiveness of port operations.
Through ACE, importers are encouraged to file electronically well in advance of a shipment's arrival at a border. CBP and all participating government agencies then process and analyze this information, and determine whether to accept the entry and speed it on its way, or to examine it, refuse it, or seize it.
Early releases of ACE functionality allow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service to validate the conveyance, driver, and crew. In subsequent releases of ACE functionality, the ITDS “screen” of ACE is expanded from border admissibility agencies to enforcement, regulatory, licensing, and statistical agencies. The ACE provides the authorized user with the ability to maintain, track, and access all types of reference information for clearance decisions. These include licenses, permits, and certificates for all types of accounts; results of all inspector examinations; a tracking system for compliance violations and courses of action for commercial and enforcement interventions; foreign visas and quotas; and intellectual property rights (IPR) such as registered trademarks and copyrights.
The ACE also provides both CBP and the business community with the tools and the technology necessary to ensure secure supply-chain management. This includes tools that provide for the advanced manifesting systems for truck, ocean, rail, and air; tracking of intermodal shipment movements and cargo moving in transit (e.g., in-bond, warehouse, Foreign Trade Zone); and enhanced conveyance and transit cargo tracking for shipments from origin to destination, regardless of transportation modes. Finally, when exports are processed in ACE, CBP will have a complete end-to-end record of cross-border processing and international supply chain information.
Ultimately, ACE provides tools to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of selectivity criteria, including tools for data validation, admissibility, entry, manifest, and release processing. These functions, coupled with account management, support enhanced compliance program activities, evaluations, and the development of improved processes.
The ACE is not simply a system for commercial processing. It provides the capability to access data in the international supply chain needed by CBP and other agencies to anticipate, identify, track, and intercept high-risk shipments. It is also capable of providing an electronic truck manifest system, thereby filling a void in current enforcement capabilities. Through ACE, CBP officers retrieve advance data on shipments crossing Canadian and Mexican borders for use in prescreening and advanced targeting. Existing enforcement data, coupled with carrier and driver registration systems and expanded manifest data, provide a consolidated view of shipment risk in near-real-time at the primary inspection booth.
As a knowledge-based tool, ACE links people, data, and tools through a targeting system that permits the government to leverage trade information and collaborate with other government agencies to detect and respond to threats; to develop and utilize intelligence; and to conduct investigations. The goal is to get the right information, to the right people, at the right time and place, and take the appropriate action.
Enforcement and compliance selectivity criteria from CBP and ITDS agencies screen every ACE import and export transaction. Tools are used to create, validate, and maintain selectivity criteria; to manage usage; and to measure performance. The system tracks examination and enforcement results and distributes them immediately to authorized users. It extends targeting to cover the vast majority of the cargo and conveyances entering the country. CBP also considers the adoption of enforcement, intelligence, and analytical applications used by other law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Where appropriate, they are modified to support CBP programs and integrated with ACE and the ACE Secure Data Portal.
One of the critical challenges facing Homeland Security is the secure sharing of enforcement and intelligence information through a common data warehouse with analytical and intelligence tools that will access real-time data, on goods and people in advance of arrival.
The technology foundation that underlies ACE supports the border passenger and enforcement systems for CBP. The ACE also facilitates information sharing within CBP and with other agencies and provides a secure channel for officers to communicate over the ACE Secure Data Portal. This supports the work of officers stationed overseas on the Container Security Initiative (CSI) and the exchange of information globally between law enforcement agencies and international companies operating under the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT). Furthermore, the switch from paper records to electronic ones for goods being exported allows for the near real-time exchange of information. In particular, a program known as the Automated Export System (AES) Vessel Transportation Module allows Customs to match commodity data transmitted by the exporter or his agent with the booking and manifest data transmitted by the carrier.
Both AES and the Automated Targeting System-Antiterrorism (ATS-AT) use the AES database to focus on high-risk export shipments. Up-front edits in AES helps to ensure the data meet export-reporting requirements and reduces delays caused when information is inaccurate or incomplete. By receiving the data electronically early in the export process, Customs can target, schedule, and complete verification examinations far enough in advance that most shipments can make their scheduled sailing. Transmitting this information directly to Customs is faster and more efficient than printing requested booking reports and producing reams of paper manifest. Electronic transmissions reduce costs associated with printing, courier deliveries to the port of export, and storage of paper manifests.
Vessel carriers participating in the Vessel Transportation Module transmit the following four electronic messages to AES: 1) A booking message. Either on a flow basis or in batches, the carrier may transmit bookings to AES as far in advance of export as the carrier elects, but all available bookings are transmitted 72 hours prior to departure. All bookings received by the carrier after the 72-hour mark are transmitted to AES when received. The “Booking Message” includes information on the customer/shipper, cargo, and destination. 2) A receipt of booking message. Upon the carrier's receipt of the first piece of booked cargo, the carrier transmits a “Receipt of Booking Message” to AES. If Customs determines that a verification examination is required, Customs immediately returns a “Hold Message” to the carrier. If the carrier does not receive a “Hold Message,” the cargo may be loaded on the vessel. When Customs has completed a required examination and determined that the cargo may be exported, a “Release Message” is transmitted to the carrier. 3) A departure message. The carrier transmits the “Departure Message” no later than the first calendar day following the actual departure of the vessel. This message notifies Customs that the vessel has departed. 4) A manifest message. Within ten calendar days after departure from each port, the carrier transmits the entire manifest electronically. This is a change from the present four-day filing requirement for paper manifests, which remains the same. All paper Shippers Export Declaration (SED) are delivered to the port of export within four days after the date of departure.
CBP also automates the issuance of In-Bond numbers to the trade community and issues the numbers more directly from the port personnel. Such protocol is an advancement over previous methods, which typically encompassed issuing numbers manually by Headquarters, Office of Field Operations, Trade Programs.
Further, CBP expanded enforcement of the 24-hour rule. The 24-hour rule requires an advance cargo declaration from sea carriers and became effective on Dec. 2, 2002. CBP uses the cargo information to identify and eliminate potential terrorist threats before a vessel sails from a foreign port to U.S. seaports, rather than after a vessel and its cargo arrives in the United States. CBP now issues “Do Not Load” messages for containerized cargo that has an invalid or incomplete cargo description. Initially, enforcement efforts focused only on significant violations of the cargo description requirements of the 24-hour rule. For example, the use of such vague cargo descriptions a “Freight-All-Kinds,” “Said-To-Contain,” or “General Merchandise” was not tolerated. CBP now issues monetary penalties for late submission of cargo declarations. CBP now issues “Do Not Load” messages for clear violations of the consignee name and address requirement. For example, consignee fields left blank, or the use of “To Order” and “To Order of Shipper” without corresponding information in the consignee field and notify party field, or consignee name with no address, incomplete address or invalid address are not acceptable. CBP now issues monetary penalties for Foreign Remaining on Board (FROB) cargo that has an invalid cargo description, and has been loaded onboard the vessel without providing CBP a 24-hour time frame for targeting.
Another advancement is the Container Security Initiative (CSI). Started by the Customs Service in early 2002, CSI puts teams of Customs professionals in ports around the world to target containers that may pose a risk for terrorism. Al Qaeda has stated that one of its goals is to destroy U.S. economic interests. Containerized shipping is a major vulnerability, and the global economy depends upon it. Over 200 million cargo containers move between major seaports each year. To eliminate these risks, CSI lays out goals including: intensifying targeting and screening of containers at ports worldwide, before those containers are loaded and sent to their final destinations; including national security factors in targeting; providing additional outreach to US industry for cooperation, idea generation, and data collection; establishing security criteria for identifying containers that may pose a risk for terrorism, based on advance information; pre-screening containers at the earliest possible point using technology to quickly pre-screen containers that may pose a risk for terrorism; developing secure and “smart” containers; significantly increasing ability to intercept containers that may pose a risk for terrorism, before they reach US shores; increasing the security of the global trading system; facilitating smooth movement of legitimate trade; protecting port infrastructures; enhancing safety and security for all; giving a competitive advantage to the trade; international reciprocity; insurance; deterrence.
The top 20 ports in the world which handle approximately 70% of containers destined for the U.S. are now participating in CSI. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) CSI teams work in the foreign country with the host government to identify and target high-risk containers for pre-screening. The host government then conducts the inspection while the US CSI team observes. Low-risk and CSI pre-screened containers enter without additional delay unless more information dictates otherwise. CSI both increases security and facilitates flow of legitimate trade. CSI partners with CBP to develop the best CSI enforcement and facilitation practices. Cooperative targeting with foreign partners results in better information which improves targeting decisions, fewer containers being identified as high-risk for better facilitation, and the high-risk determination is now based on more complete information for enhanced security. Specific successes include important seizures at several CSI ports.
While the methods and systems described above address the problems associated with the transmission of data pertaining to cargo shipments, they fail to provide the ability to monitor the shipments, control their accessibility, and detect security breaches therein. They further do not support a system that allows for the tracking of cargo in transit, the monitoring of the cargo to ascertain the integrity of the cargo containers during the transit, and to verify container contents without intrusive verification. The CBP system, in particular, allows CBP officers to collaborate on-line while reviewing related information. It further allows for the receiving of advance information, early risk assessment and analysis, and staged enforcement. The use of the ACE Secure Data Portal merely simplifies the access and analysis of the information. CSI, on the other hand, targets and screens cargo containers before those containers are loaded and shipped to the U.S. Data is collected and security measures are implemented based on advance information. In both the CBP system and the CSI system, once data is collected, an inspection must be carried out using a specified procedure at a specified point. Any alteration of the goods being inspected must be visually ascertained, and any breach of security that does not result in an obvious compromise of the integrity of the cargo would likely go undetected. More specifically, the addition of a discretely packaged hazardous or dangerous material to a cargo container containing a product such as lawn tractors, furniture, televisions, or the like would not be noticed short of physically inspecting any sealing apparatus that is used to seal the container and making a determination that the integrity of the container has been compromised.
What is needed is a system that allows for the monitoring of shipments, the control of their accessibility, and the detection of security breaches while allowing the exchange of information between authorized users of the system. What is also needed is a system that allows for the monitoring of the actual contents of shipments during the transit thereof.
Moreover, in view of national security, there is not only a need for the monitoring of shipment of goods, but also a need for the limited and generally non-intrusive monitoring of noncitizen visitors to, for example, a foreign country to ensure that the visitors do not abuse their stay to the detriment of the host country. Specifically, there is a need to ensure that noncitizen visitors do not significantly deviate from their itinerary and that such visitors leave the country according to their schedule.